Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish and currently hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I'd Want to Be Friends With

This week's TTT is all about characters we'd love to befriend. Are you drawn to the mischief makers? The analytical thinkers? The brave who make you want to be fierce too? 

1. Dee Black

2. Audrey Rose Wadsworth

3. Emika Chen

4. Avery Fuller

5.Tella 

6. Hanna

7. Elide

8. Nina  

9. Phin Goodnight

10. Roar

 What characters would you love to be friends with? Let me know in the comments or drop me a link to your TTT!

Happy Reading Bookdragons!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? - 12 August 2019

#IMWAYR is a weekly meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

What I Read Last Week:

I'd been waiting to read this one all summer! It was such an addictive, sexy, hilarious read that I couldn't put it down! I'm going to binge the rest of the series as soon as possible. 

This was a good solid read by an author new to me. I liked the premise and how fast paced it was. It wasn't perfect but I'd definitely read the other two books in the trilogy!

I wanted to read this book since I finished Warcross but I was afraid it wouldn't be as good as the first book. It wasn't what I expected but I loved it in equal measure to Warcross and I'm satisfied with the ending of the duology! I'm glad I gave these books a chance.

What I Am Reading Now:

The movie adaptation of this book came up in my Netflix queue last week and I loved it so naturally I wanted to read the book. A friend of mine once told me you need to go into each as if they are not meant to be the same and then you'll enjoy them without comparing so that's how I went into the book. I'm about 1/3 of the way in and completely hooked on the story. The movie version is different, yes, but they're both great. 

Up Next:
Next up for me is...

I've been really into thriller and horror novels this summer and this one looks like a quick, eerie read. 

What are you reading this week?

Book Review: REMEMBER ME by Chelsea Bobulski

Remember Me
by Chelsea Bobulski
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release date: August 6, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Horror

Blurb

In this eerie and suspenseful YA, a teen girl discovers what connects her to the hotel she calls home as horrifying visions lead her to the truth.

Nell Martin is moving again, this time to the Winslow Grand Hotel, built in 1878. As Nell is settling in, strange things begin to happen. Doors lock of their own accord, writing appears on bathroom walls--and most horrifying of all--visions of a dead boy permeate her waking life. Thinking it was her mind playing tricks on her, she soon finds the past and the present colliding as she learns horrific details of a murder that happened at the hotel in 1905 involving a girl named Lea.

Nell and a mysterious bellboy must relive that day in hopes of finally breaking a curse that imprisons them both. And Nell discovers what truly links her to the history of the Winslow Grand Hotel.

Get Your Copy Today:

Add to Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Indie Bound

My Review:

Remember Me was everything I wanted and more!

This book hooked me from the first time I saw it, months before I read it. It’s an eerie, haunting, beautiful story of star-crossed lovers, murder, reincarnation, and the ghosts of the past that echo through time. 

Nell and her father move into the Winslow which is this beautiful historic hotel with a tragic past that is more like The Shining. Nell herself is haunted by the past and the loss of her mother and begins to question her own sanity when nightmares begin plaguing her nightly and weird unexplainable things begin to happen. 

There she meets the mysterious Alec Petrov who seems to hate her on sight. But is his hatred masking a century of pain and longing? They’ll need each other if they want to correct the mistakes of the past. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book, it has stuck with me long after I finished the last page, and will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2019!

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟

5 of 5 Stars!

About the Author:

Chelsea Bobulski was born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised on Disney movies, classic musicals, and Buckeye pride. She’s always had a penchant for the fantastical, the stories that teach us there is more to this world than meets the eye.

She has a soft spot for characters with broken pasts, strange talents, and a dash of destiny in their bones. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a degree in history, she promptly married her high school sweetheart and settled down in Northwest Ohio with her notebooks and daydreams and copious amounts of chocolate. THE WOOD is her debut novel.

Connect with Chelsea Bobulski Online:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

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GIVEAWAY 
Prize: Win (1) copy of REMEMBER ME by Chelsea Bobulski (US Only) 
Starts: 06 August 2019
 Ends: 20 August 2019
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Bookish and Not So Bookish Thoughts - 1 August 2019

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts is a Weekly Meme hosted by Christine @ Bookishly  Boisterous.

1. My 27th birthday is coming up this Sunday. I've been feeling a range of emotions - excitement, depression, sadness, guilt. I feel like I should be making a better deal out of my birthday than I am but I've been on such a low lately I don't want to. 

2. I've taken a much needed break from fantasy novels, which is not unusual this time of year, and have picked up Making Up by Helena Hunting. I've been wanting to read her books for a while and this one has been calling my name since I picked it up a couple weeks ago and wow... I AM LOVING IT! It's so funny and sexy! I'll definitely check out her backlist.    

3. It's the beginning of a new month which means new headings on my bullet journal! I'm going to check out Pinterest later to see how I want to do it this month. 

4. I didn't stick to my July spending ban. I feel terrible. Okay, I feel slightly guilty. In my defense most of the books I received this month were ARCs or books I'd preordered/got in a book box. My splurges were on clothes and wireless headphones. Clothes are a necessity, right?

5. I'm not making a iron-clad TBR schedule for next month. I don't have any blog tours to stick to deadlines for so I'm going to wing it and read what appeals to me when it appeals to me. 

I Can't Wait For... Into the Crooked Place

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released.

I loved this author's debut novel and the first book in this new duology sounds amazing!

Into the Crooked Place

By Alexandra Christo
YA Fantasy
eBook, Hardcover, 384 Pages
October 8, 2019 by Fewer & Friends 


Blurb

Into the Crooked Place begins a gritty two-book YA fantasy series from Alexandra Christo, the author of To Kill a Kingdom.
The streets of Creije are for the deadly and the dreamers, and four crooks in particular know just how much magic they need up their sleeve to survive.

Tavia, a busker ready to pack up her dark-magic wares and turn her back on Creije for good. She’ll do anything to put her crimes behind her.

Wesley, the closest thing Creije has to a gangster. After growing up on streets hungry enough to swallow the weak whole, he won’t stop until he has brought the entire realm to kneel before him.

Karam, a warrior who spends her days watching over the city’s worst criminals and her nights in the fighting rings, making a deadly name for herself.

And Saxony, a resistance fighter hiding from the very people who destroyed her family, and willing to do whatever it takes to get her revenge.

Everything in their lives is going to plan, until Tavia makes a crucial mistake: she delivers a vial of dark magic—a weapon she didn’t know she had—to someone she cares about, sparking the greatest conflict in decades. Now these four magical outsiders must come together to save their home and the world, before it’s too late. But with enemies at all sides, they can trust nobody. Least of all each other.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository

What do you think? Will you be checking this one out? 

BLINK SUMMER READING TOUR - No Place Like Here Review

No Place Like Here by Christina June
Publisher: BLINK
Release date: May 21, 2019
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Retelling

Blurb

Ashlyn Zanotti has big plans for the summer. She’s just spent a year at boarding school and can’t wait to get home. But when Ashlyn’s father is arrested for tax evasion and her mother enters a rehab facility for “exhaustion,” a.k.a. depression, her life is turned upside down.

The cherry on top? Ashlyn’s father sends her to work with a cousin she doesn’t even know at a rustic team-building retreat center in the middle of nowhere. A self-proclaimed “indoor girl,” not even Ash’s habit of leaving breadcrumb quotes—inspirational sayings she scribbles everywhere—can help her cope.

With a dangerously careless camp manager doling out grunt work, an overbearing father trying to control her even from prison, and more than a little boy drama to struggle with, the summer is full of challenges. And Ashlyn must make the toughest decision of her life: keep quiet and follow her dad’s marching orders, or find the courage to finally stand up to her father to have any hope of finding her way back home.

Get Your Copy Today:

Add to Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Book Depository | Indie Bound

My Review:

Summer's nearly over but you can hang onto it a bit longer with this cute, fast-paced summer read that will give you all the feels.

While I found the pace of the storyline of Ashlyn's father's tax troubles a little unrealistic, I liked how strong Ashlyn was as a character. I love books in which the main characters are sent away to camp for the summer and this book was perfect, making you feel like you were right alongside Ashlyn. 

The part of this book I liked the most was Ashlyn's complicated, complex relationships with her family - not only with her parents but with her aunt, uncle, and cousin that she's getting to know for the first time. I don't have any cousins my age but reading this book made me wish I did. 

Overall this is a great sort of coming of age read about standing up for yourself, families, and a summer that changes everything. 

My Rating:

🌟🌟🌟

3 of 5 Stars!

About the Author:

Christina June writes young adult contemporary fiction when she’s not writing college recommendation letters during her day job as a school counselor. She loves the little moments in life that help someone discover who they’re meant to become – whether it’s her students or her characters. Christina is a voracious reader, loves to travel, and hopes to one day be bicoastal – the east coast of the US and the east coast of Scotland. She lives just outside Washington DC with her husband and daughter.

She is the author of IT STARTED WITH GOODBYE, EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE, and the forthcoming NO PLACE LIKE HERE.

Connect with Christina June Online:

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter

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Friday Night Frights: There's Someone Inside Your House

Hey Bookdragons! Welcome to the 4th installment of the Friday Night Frights meme!

How It Works:
On your blog feature a horror novel you loved (it doesn't have to be a new release) and recommend a horror movie you love then come back here and post your link in the comments! That's it, as simple as that! 

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Love hurts...

Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.

Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.

What I loved about There's Someone Inside Your House:

I love, love, loved this book! It was gripping and fast-paced, gory yet not too scary. The killings were well plotted (if not a little unbelievable in a couple cases) and when they were woven in with the hints of Makani's mysterious past it really made you wonder what exactly Makani had done for her parents to ship her off to Nebraska. Could she be the killer, I wondered. 

In true horror-suspense fashion I kept guessing at who the killer might be up until the reveal. I was a bit worried, because we find out the identity of the killer with about 100 pages left in the book, about how the author would wrap the book up. Surely the killer wouldn't be able to go on killing once people knew who he was, right? Boy was I wrong! 

This book had me biting my nails until the very end.

Movie Rec: Alone in the Dark

My grandmother watched this movie first. It was 3 am and she wakes me up to tell me about this terrifying movie she's watching on Turner Classic Movies. I caught maybe 5 minutes before I went back to bed, promising my grandmother I'd add it to the Netflix queue so we could watch it together. 

"Dr. Bain (Donald Pleasence) precariously presides over an eerie asylum that houses its fair share of eccentrics and very dangerous figures, including the murderous Frank Hawkes (Jack Palance) and the holier-than-thou Byron "Preacher"Sutcliff (Martin Landau). Not even the arrival of kindly Dr. Dan Potter (Dwight Schultz) on the scene can keep everyone in check. And when the lights go out mysteriously all over town, mayhem starts to rule."

I went in not knowing what to expect from this movie. Was it as scary as my grandmother said? Would it frighten me, the unfrightenable? 

Alone in the Dark is classic 80s horror in all the best ways. It's got an asylum run by a doctor who should probably be a patient, not one - not two - but FOUR crazy killers, an unsuspecting doctor who comes to work at the asylum leaving his family at home after a blackout.. and that's just a taste. 

If you like Friday the 13th, Halloween, or the original Nightmare on Elm Street and it's classic slasher horror format you need to check out Alone in the Dark ASAP!